An occasional blog of our activities for the LGBT History Project with the odd post on subjects connected to LGBT History generally. Contact us at lgbthistoryproject@hotmail.co.uk. You can download our 2016 magazine here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24371157/P2P-2016.pdf

Thursday, 24 November 2011

Edward Hewitson of Over Poppleton, near York, appeared in the court of
the Dean and Chapter of York Minster in the last months of 1516. This
was an office case (that is, the accused was prosecuted by the court,
rather than by an individual).

The
court records do not give details of his crime; however, some of the
papers for his individual case survive. These, although damaged, make it
clear that he was accused of repeatedly committing the ‘detestable
sodomitical sin against human nature’ with other men for a period of 14
years.
The surviving records give details of the accusations made against him
with notes of his responses to these statements. Although he began by
denying all the charges, he did confess that he had in the past admitted
committing this ‘sin’ and had performed public penance for it. This
meant that he had to walk in procession around the church at Over
Poppleton and the church of St Mary Bishophill in York, dressed in a
sheet. This would have taken place during the weekly church service so
many people would have seen him and known he was performing penance.
The accusations were backed by the accounts of witnesses, which would
have been read after the accusations were made. They were encouraged to
give an account of any relevant information, which was copied down. In
the 14th and 15th centuries, these accounts would have been translated
into Latin for presentation in court. By the 16th century when this case
was heard more written accounts were being produced in English. In this
case the accounts waver between the two languages, with a few words in
Latin followed by some in English. These witness accounts are badly
damaged, breaking up the narrative, but it is still possible to get a
sense of these men’s stories.
The were five witnesses: Ralph Falowfeld, Francis Mane, Robert Hay,
George Browne and Robert Carrok. There is a note that the first three
witnesses appeared on 15 January and the final two on 16 January – the
year is missing but must have been 1517 from other evidence.

It
is not known how this case was resolved: the court book shows that it
continued in the court for several months but we have no record of a
sentence given.

The
Church Courts could provide very little in the way of punishment and
the strongest sentence which it could have passed would have been one of
excommunication. This would have involved refusing Edward Hewitson the
right to enter a church, and perhaps isolating him in his village so
that he was not spoken to by his neighbours. If Edward repented and
performed a penance these bans would have been lifted.

Edward
was fortunate: from 1533 sodomy became a crime which could be tried by
the secular courts and those convicted were hanged.

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Whilst flipping through my copy of the Radio Times to discover what televisual treats await us next week, I discovered that Channel 4 are screening "Britain's Greatest Codebreaker" on Monday 21st November at 9.00pm.

According to the text, this drama documentary "recounts the brilliant and ultimately tragic life of one of the 20th century's great minds".

The International Trans Day of Remembrance is an opportunity for trans
people, their friends, families and allies to come together in a safe
space to reflect on those who have lost their lives through violence or
suicide because they are trans. It is a time to remember, mourn and
celebrate them and to tell their stories so they are not forgotten.

Commemoration through readings, poetry and music
You don’t have to bring or do anything but, as in previous years, we would very much like people to contribute and participate if they wish. If you would like to take part,
please bring short stories, readings or poetry and speak to the
organisers beforehand – if you prefer not to read yourself, we can find
someone else to read the text for you.

John Rykener, known also as Johannes Richer and Eleanor, was a 14th century transvestite prostitute working mainly in London (near Cheapside), but also active in Oxford. In 1395, he was arrested for cross-dressing and interrogated. The records have survived, the only surviving legal records from that age which mention same-sex intercourse.

During his interrogation, Rykener claimed to have had many clients including priests, monks and nuns; he said that he preferred priests because they paid better than others. He mentioned a Franciscan friar, who had given him a gold ring, a Carmelite friar and six foreigners, "of whom one gave Rykener twelve pence, one twenty pence, and one two shillings".

Thursday, 10 November 2011

In November 2010, Dr Louise Chambers, a founder member of the LGBT History Project, gave a lecture on the regulation of 'obscenity' in relation to the banning of novels whose narratives featured same sex relations between women in the early 20th century.

A podcast of the lecture is available on the National Archives website at:

Saturday, 5 November 2011

Tu Er Shen was originally a man called Hu Tianbao, who fell in love with a very handsome imperial inspector of Fujian Province. One day Hu Tianbao was caught peeping at the inspector through a bathroom wall, at which point he confessed his affections for the other man. The imperial inspector had Hu Tianbao sentenced to death by beating. One month after his death, Hu Tianbao is said to have appeared to a man from his hometown in a dream. He told him that, since his crime was one of love, the underworld officials had decided to correct the injustice by making him the god and safeguarder of homosexual affections. After his dream, the man built a shrine to Hu Tianbao, which became very popular in Fujian province, so much so that in late Qing times, the cult of Hu Tianbao was targeted for extermination by the Qing government.

A slang term for homosexuals in late imperial China was tuzi (rabbits), which is why Hu Tianbao is referred to as the rabbit deity, though in actual fact he has nothing to do with rabbits and (obviously) should not be confused with tuer ye, the rabbit on the moon.

Some favourite links

About Me

One of several old horses interested in having his nosebag in nice, local restaurants. Also part of a trio of amateur historians rummaging through the National Archives for traces of hidden LGBT history.